In this chapter, we backpedal quite a ways. Enjoy :)

Jasper's POV

She was in chains when I first met her; so fierce and feisty she had to be restrained. Even chained and thoroughly restrained by Jane and Alec, she still thrashed about, searching for a nonexistent chance to escape.

She refused to make any eye contact with us, even as Aro, Marcus, Caius and I were distracted by the jangling of her chains as part of her futile attempt to escape. I had been included into the Volturi due to my ability to gauge and control emotions. It proved very useful when dealing with wild newborns such as this one; and as I tapped into her emotions, something I found shocked me beyond belief.

Almost every vampire, newborn or not, who entered this room would have a strong emotion of fear above all others. However, I saw no fear, only anger and rage, mirrored in the blood red color of her eyes when she finally looked up at us.

"This newborn," Jane said, eyes fixed firmly on Aro, "has been responsible for wiping out entire towns and raising high suspicions. If we do not get rid of her, the humans will know about us."

"Is that so?" Aro asked, and as I glanced over at him, I could see interest and amusement flickering in his eyes. He always liked the kill of newborns; the kill of vampires in general, but only those who broke the law.

"Why even bring her here, then, Jane?" Caius asked, and as I gauged his emotions, I found displeasure and annoyance. "If you had reason to believe this scum here," he said, the newborn growling when he referred to her as scum, "killed humans in mass numbers, then you should have killed it without bringing it here and wasting our time." It was obvious Caius had a strong dislike for newborns, but he usually didn't show it, and I could tell Jane was caught off-guard. She recovered quickly, however, just as vampires do.

"I thought you might want to see how she feels about her killings," Jane answered. "Now, now, Caius, don't ruin all the fun. Let me see," Aro said, placing a book he had been flipping through on the table. He approached the newborn vampire, who, instead of being fearful, only looked up at him and smirked.

Feisty.

Aro grabbed her hand and closed his hand around it, preventing her from moving as he dived into her thoughts.

"Oh," he said after a moment, letting go of her hand. Her smirk only grew, eyes dancing with amusement. I tapped into her emotions again and found only a slight trace of anger, overpowered by amusement and ...was that a feeling of superiority I saw?

This vampire was like no other.

"Go ahead," Aro said, returning the newborn's smirk with one of his own. "Kill her, but dispose of her properly. We can't let humans know about us," he said, turning and walking back to his throne between Caius and Marcus. I saw Jane exchange a glance with Felix, and Felix stepped up behind the newborn, hands poised to rip her head off and eternally destroy the girl.

"Wait."